Liberty of London Framed Art

You may know that I'm a Liberty of London fan. I love the old building, I'm fascinated with their floral textiles, and I really want to travel there someday. I saw their 150th Anniversary Tote this year and I was obsessed with it. I would have loved to frame it and hang it in my studio, but it was out of stock so I searched for other options. I came across this Tea Towel print of a hand sewn project by In Stitch You and I just love how unique it is! I had actually come across Harriet's work on social media before and love the story behind her art. The idea of the collaboration and another sewist making this art was perfect.

Originally, I planned to hang it like I would a quilt. I put corner tags on the back and, using a yardstick cut to length and prepped with velcro command strips, hung it on the wall. But right away I knew it needed something more. Initially I thought of Ellene McClay's incredible macrame on quilts and considered trying my own version of that, but I felt like this needed something around the entire edge of the fabric, not just at the bottom. I highly recommend checking out her stunning quilts!

In order to keep the whole image I decided not to wrap thie towel to a frame like canvas. Instead, I found a 20"x30" Frame that it would fit in. I planned a muslin or cream fabric behind it and and then the towel, but when I placed it all behind the glass, it looked weird. As I searched for ideas of what to do I reconsidered the macrame idea but somehow connecting it to the frame. I came across images for blocking crochet by tying it to a frame. I loved that look but decided to make it more intentional with a kind of string-art design.

I purchased a pack of 1/16 in Screw Eyes to use on the frame.

Then I carefully measured and marked where to put each screw. Starting at 1" from the edges I put a screw every 2". This was absolutely tedious, and my husband tried to help with a few different tools, but the screws were just so small pliers were the only thing that worked. 50 screws total on here.

Once the screws were all installed I used an 8wt thread to string the towel to the frame. I went back and forth catching the towel and every other screw, then I worked backwards catching the remaining screws to create a fun overlapped look to the string.

I did both sides and then pulled them tight at the same time to tie them off - that way I was able to make sure the towel was as centered as possible in the frame.

I didn't even realize it until after I finished and looked at the finished project that the string design mimics the details in the roofline. I am so happy with how it turned out! This is now hung above my work table in my studio, a beautiful reminder of my past and present. (More on that coming very soon!)